There was a time when the FA Cup held a special magic for everyone who hoped for a Goliath slaying. Nowadays, even Harry Redknapp, manager of Spurs who has a long tradition of FA Cup success, feels that a top 4 finish in the Premier League would be a greater achievement.
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Contributed by Shane Neubronner

Singapore, December 10, 2009 – Former Tottenham Hotspur captain and England international Gary Mabbutt will lead a team of Spurs’ coaches to Singapore for the International Player Development Course, in partnership with the Football Association of Singapore. The course is scheduled to take place from 11-20 December.
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You see, I can’t decide which is a better ‘kicker’ (or more newsworthy).

I’m really enjoying the 09/10 English Premier League season because it excites me to see not only the title race is still wide open in week 7, but for the record, 7 teams appear to be well in contention for the title, or at least, I wouldn’t write any of the top 7 teams off just yet.

The storyteller in me is also secretly taken over by Pompey’s duck. As of last weekend, Portsmouth has just “achieved the record of having made the worst Premier League start since the league’s inception by losing all 7 of their opening matches” (so says Wikipedia).
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A 100% record goes down the toilet on the back of a pitiful performance by Spurs against the red half of Manchester. Spur’s attack-first philosophy has finally come back to bite them, as it did so often last season.

As long as they were overrunning their opponents in the final third, defence was never really an issue. A lack of bite in midfield in the last match has cost them dear, with Man U never having to stretch themselves despite a man down.

So without further ado, I submit the reasons why Spurs will falter once again:

1) Lack of midfield flexibility

Hold on: isn’t Luka Modric the best winger this side of North London? If he’s injured, big deal: Niko Kranjcar will cover for him.

Here’s the bad news, ladies and gentlemen: Modric is out for at least six weeks with a fractured leg (not counting rehabilitative training), having been the inspiration behind many of Spurs’ goals. The Croatian magician had a hand in both goals against ‘Pool, and Spurs have looked noticeably bereft of ideas whenever he’s not on the pitch

Kranjcar will be counted upon to fill the breach, but Modric’s countryman is arguably not on the same level and at the very least, is an unproven option.

Wilson Palacios and Tom Huddlestone are solid combative midfielders, the former a destroyer of opposition attacks and the latter a Michael Carrick in the making, but they lack that spark of genius to unlock defences.

With Jermain Jenas a shadow of the box-to-box midfielder he once was, and in no way any sort of cover for the boisterous Palacios, Spurs will be left sweating over the fitness of Modric and Palacios.

2) Defensive solidity (or lack thereof)

Spurs have not kept a clean sheet in the Premier League this season. Hardly a concern when your attack simply bangs in more goals. However, as Man U have demonstrated so emphatically, a halt to the haemorrhaging of goals will be required at some point if the strikers don’t perform for some reason.

When faced with a side employing deft one-touch football and a fluidity of movement, the Spurs defence simply go to pieces and ball-watch, gaping as they are cut to pieces. ‘Arry has to instil some sort of defensive resilience, fast, or Spurs will end up challenging for the right to lead the bottom half of the table, and not the top. The continual worries over the fitness of Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King remain perennial concerns.

3) Lennon’s one-dimensonality

One of Spur’s best and brightest, Lennon’s instinct to run, run and then run some more is still a problem after many seasons. The winger is blessed with the pace of Hermes, but his final delivery of the ball into the area is sadly wanting, never mind his shooting accuracy. Lennon’s inability to dribble or to take the ball onto the other foot will mean that opponents have a much easier time marking him out of the game.

4) Peter ‘The Robot’ Crouch

At first seemingly an astute buy, Crouch has always been a gamble of some sort. The beanpole striker is an obvious candidate for the employment of the direct route to goal, yet his ball control and eye for goal are up for debate. Missing two sitters against Man U has not helped his cause any, not that his ability to knock down the ball for a speedier strike to latch onto while on England duty has been effectively replicated for Spurs. Crouch will need to stand up and be counted, any puns notwithstanding, or the journeyman forward will soon be adding another club to his impressive resume.

5) Dissension within the squad

Palyuchenko’s rumblings of dissent (despite official statements to the contrary) are just the first of many potential conflicts with the squad this season. With so many talented players jockeying for places, and this being the season before the World Cup, egos will be bruised and tempers will be expressed. ‘Arry has expressed this situation ‘as a good problem to have’, but he will be aware he is balancing a huge squad on a knife’s edge.

Like many men (it is mostly men who engage in this activity, women have far more important things to do), I was caught in a vicious, repetitive cycle of hitting the refresh button on my browser on Tuesday 1st September. The transfer window closed at 5pm UK time, and with it, dashed the hopes of thousands who were hoping against hope that their club would sign their next Saviour. OK, maybe it is just Spurs fans who harbour such hopes because good teams such as Chelsea finish their business early in the summer.

Now that the ink has dried on the new contracts and new replica jerseys have been printed, I can distill some Spurs transfer window strategies through the lens of that old wheeler-dealer Sun Tzu.
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The Premier League – Month of August Review

The international break could not have come at a better time. After such a pulsating start to the 2009/10 Premier League season, the two-week break between league games will serve as a breather for both club managers and fans (of course, for most of the players it’s business as usual with the World Cup qualifiers).
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It is a sign of Spurs’ progress this season that the most frequent comment I heard from supporters as we filed out of White Hart Lane today was that this was our most important win yet. Everyone was still buzzing from Aaron Lennon’s last gasp winner against Birmingham that preserved our 100% record, but there was no giddy talk of breaking into the top 4. Instead there was a clear recognition that games were getting harder because teams were now gunning for Spurs, and yet the team still pulled through.
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That’s what Match of the Day (MOTD) pundit Alan Hansen (yes, that Liverpool legend) said when host Gary Linker asked him in jest if Spurs could be title contenders, after their 5-1 win over Hull City.

It’s a feeling that us Spurs fans know so well. Every season, there will be a stretch when the footballing constellations line up perfectly, the fixture list is kind, and the footballing gods smile on Spurs. We allow ourselves to be seduced by thoughts of cracking the top 4, or qualifying for Europe. Inevitably, the cruel force known as reality (or Arsenal in most cases) brings us crashing back to Earth.
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Yes, that bird you see perched on top of the Premiership table tonight is the proud cockerel of North London, Tottenham Hotspur! Spurs’ best away win since 1998 sees the team from N17 staring down the table for once.

On a hot, sticky night up North, Spurs sent a strong message to the other teams vying for the position of Best of the Rest, ie that lofty 5th position. Actually, on the basis of this performance, some might even say that the Sky 4 should look over their shoulders.
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For a team that is used to slow starts, Spurs pulled out a rare and, more surprisingly, impressive, opening day win against title hopefuls Liverpool.

The corresponding fixture last season saw Spurs pull off one of the most improbable wins of the decade in a game where according to Harry Redknapp, Liverpool “slaughtered us”. It was one of his first games in charge of Spurs and it is a measure of the progress made under ‘Arry that this win was accomplished in a far more commanding fashion.
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